Vectorman (Sega Mega Drive)

Vectorman

In the year 2049, mankind is forced to abandon an over-polluted Earth to seek out other planets for colonization while the mechanized Orbots stay behind to clean up the mess.

When the Orbot leader, WarHead, starts blowing a few circuits and a war among the mechanical brethren, a sludge barge pilot named Vectorman is the only one willing to step up and fight him.

You'll morph into a speeding train, a power drill, a mechanical fish, or a mighty dune buggy in this warfare adventure. Equip yourself with weapons, pick up morphs and power-ups to defeat WarHead and restore peace on Earth.

Vectorman Review

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Review by Darren Calvert

Vectorman Screenshot

OK, so the main character is compromised of green balls, don't let that make you overlook one of the better 'run and gun' games to hit the Megadrive / Genesis. The shallow premise for the game is that humans have ruined the planet Earth and left the subsequent tidy-up job to their robots. You assume the role of the titular Vectorman, who has to contend with the rather unfortunately fact that all the other robots have turned evil and must be stopped before the make the Earth an even bigger mess than it already is.

Vectorman Screenshot

The gameplay is quite similar to other 'run and gun' games, like Gunstar Heroes for instance. One nice feature is Vectorman's ability to do a super jump with the aid of his booster rockets, which gives players a bit more lift to get to harder to reach platforms. You can also perform a rather neat airborne attack. There are many interesting power ups including morphing into temporary vehicles, bombs, and amphibious vehicles of sorts to complete your objectives.

Although it's a little grey in places, visually this game pushed the Megadrive to its limits. The camera and scrolling direction switch at certain points and this creates a brilliant sense of depth. You could easily be persuaded that this was a Playstation 1 game, such is the speed of the on-screen action. The multi-limbed sprites move extremely smoothly and look fantastic. The pyrotechnics are handled really well and some of the end-of-level bosses are truly outstanding.

In terms of depth, there's lots of hidden areas so once completed there is always more to come back for, making it decent value for money. However, when compared to the likes of Contra III and Gunstar Heroes (which are champions in this genre) I feel Vectorman on the whole just falls short. It doesn't really add anything new but is still great fun to play all the same. If you've already purchased the aforementioned titles, then this should be high on your shopping list.

4/5

Average reader rating: 4.18 (40 ratings)

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Screenshots

Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot Vectorman Screenshot

Vectorman (Video Clip)

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Have your say about Vectorman

1. James Casey United Kingdom 08 Mar 2007, 22:35 GMT

Vectorman was the greatest game ever released on the MD. If this is released, it will be amazing. This game was absolutley amazing. Buy it!

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2. Kevin United States 06 Apr 2007, 13:41 GMT

I can't wait til NA get this game. One of the best Genesis games ever!

3. Borb United Kingdom 07 Apr 2007, 19:42 GMT

I've been saying that they will never release this on VC because it's too damn good....turns out I was wrong...luckily so.

4. TheReaFONZ Ireland 06 Jun 2007, 22:35 GMT

Hey I just down loaded this and I gotta say:

four stars!

pfft! Four stars my ass!

This game deserves five stars easy. It's amazing, the graphics for the MD are amazing. I mean holy cow there aint an MD game out there to beat it and the game play KILLS gunstar easy. Gunstar is kiddy, Vectorman is bad ass all the way. The music in places can be pretty funky too. Please people don't over look this game cause of the four star review. This game rocks the gates of hell it's that good. This game plays as if you gave mario a semi automatic, a bucket of prozak and sent him on his way. Plus i'd say it looks like the "gears of war" for it's time and thers no deniying that game kicked ass. Please download this game your missin out otherwise.

PS. Did I mention he's made of green balls?

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5. Dazza United Kingdom 07 Jun 2007, 00:06 GMT

Chill out Fonz! 4 stars is a very good score. We just did not feel Vectorman was up to the 5 star standard set by Gunstar Hereos and Contra III.

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6. Bass X0 United Kingdom 14 Jun 2007, 02:24 GMT

i am surprised this isn't in the u.s yet... i wonder why.

7. Garcian Smith United States 17 Jun 2007, 17:46 GMT

This game is also on the Sega Genesis Collection for PS2 and PSP. I'd highly recommend getting it on there if you have either due to the quicksave feature, and the fact that it's only $20.

8. PresidentLeever United Kingdom 03 Jul 2007, 12:50 GMT

zero personality, corny plot and mediocre level design with a gimmick that feels rushed. The sound fx is way too loud comp. to the music.

9. chopblock United States 28 Jul 2007, 03:55 GMT

Honestly, I don't see how Gunstar Heroes deserves anymore than 2 stars. It's a painfully small and boring game. Vectorman got a TON of play time out of me back in the Sega days. I can't believe I let wii fanboys convince me that Gunstar Heroes was worth my 8 dollars.

10. Jade Louise United Kingdom 05 Aug 2007, 02:02 GMT

This a fun game. However I wont be downloading it as its on the Japanese PS2(and GC) version of Sonic Gems Collection along with Vectorman 2, Streets of Rage 1,2,3 , Sonic CD and Sonic R.

11. PowerLegend United States 15 Aug 2007, 06:57 GMT

are they gonna release this damn game here or not? it's been over 4 months since europe got it and it STILL hasn't been released here. it's even worse than zelda 2

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12. Pocketim New Zealand 18 Aug 2007, 00:11 GMT

the game box has written on it play to win $25,000

13. PowerLegend United States 23 Aug 2007, 06:39 GMT

alright you know what, forget it. i just realized that its on sonic gems collection. i'll get that instead

14. alvieao United States 16 Sep 2007, 03:28 GMT

I do have the US Sonic Gems Collection (sadly, without the SOR trilogy) which had VM and its sequel as unlockables. The game blends shooting and platforming elements and delivers great action. Definitely play this game! Finally, Vectorman is now on the Virtual Console in North America...

15. Endaso United States 21 Sep 2007, 08:14 GMT

No, it's not quite worth four stars... it's still very good, though, and has a healthy level of difficulty. The graphics were also quite nice back during the day, and still carry a certain sort of charm today.

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16. E-dawg Australia 19 Oct 2007, 09:42 GMT

This game is good in short bursts, I have it on the Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube so I will give this a miss, but the Virtual Console version will probably be better because of the saving feature. However, I believ that the sequel is actually better, because its not so damn hard!

17. Bob Emmerich United States 20 Oct 2007, 22:51 GMT

Seeing as how this hasn't come out in the US yet but I presume will at some point -- I just picked up Sega Genesis Collection PS2 yesterday (ToysRUs for $20) and of the 36 MegaDrive VC games 20 (twenty) are on that 1 disc, thats $160 worth of VC on 1 $20 disc. I don't know how much better they may play on the VC but as long as my PS2 is hooked up and working I'll manage. Now if I could find a good N64 compilation disc I could save myself another $100 ;-)

18. Mii be you United States 31 Oct 2007, 21:28 GMT

This game MIGHT have been a 5-star if it was in Multiplayer.

19. darthmix United States 02 Nov 2007, 16:39 GMT

If they bring it to North America VC, I'll download it. This was one of the cooler-looking games that I never got a chance to play the first time around because my family didn't own a Genesis.

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20. Kevin United States 19 Nov 2007, 13:25 GMT

Are they ever gonna release this here? I'm sick of waiting for this classic to be released and don't feel like wasting extra money on a PS2 or PSP just to play it.

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21. deggs Canada 07 Dec 2007, 00:22 GMT

I wouldn't exactly call it a run n' gun. it's more like mega man without the stage select... it's a platform game (and I truly love platform games). the story is over-the-top camp, which is awesome. afterall, it's a game with a protagonist made of green balls...

anyways, the game is fun. end of story. i played it expecting to loath it (one of the few in the sega genesis collection for ps2 i never thought of trying until recently). instead, i couldn't stop playing it all night. if you're into platforming goodness a la mega man, you just might love this too...

22. jcBIOHAZARD United States 29 Dec 2007, 22:26 GMT

About time!!!!I use to have this game on my sega, it was insane!!

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23. Elk810 United States 30 Dec 2007, 07:50 GMT

I had this game on the Sega Nomad (A portable Genesis) and Sega Smash Pack for Windows. This game is really cool and really funny. It's like an early Ratchet & Clank. It's hard, but you'll have so much fun trying to tackle it that you won't even get mad. It's even full of secret paths that you might expect from the mind of the immortal Shigeru Miyamoto. A timeless Genesis classic indeed.

24. Roo United Kingdom 04 Jan 2008, 19:12 GMT

Vectorman is OK, but I wouldn't advise anyone to buy it before they gave Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier or Probotector a shot. I think its better than the sequel though.

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25. Pocketim New Zealand 17 Jan 2008, 20:50 GMT

Hey, wait a minute, that screenshot of the red plane and vectorman, that plane looks very similar to the Egg Hawk, the first boss in Sonic Heroes!

26. President_Leever Sweden 30 Jan 2008, 15:19 GMT

The definition of generic action platformer #47.. I can honestly say I loathe this game and its lame, green peace inspired player character.

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27. Iylar United States 14 Feb 2008, 18:54 GMT

Please release this soon for the U.S. This was one of my favorite games for the Genesis and I was super excited when i saw that it was coming to VC. So hurry!

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28. GameGod3008 United Kingdom 22 Feb 2008, 17:33 GMT

Got this with Sonic Gems collection and it was a fun game but i just couldn't help but feel that this was Sega's answer to DKC, which is a much better game. STill fun though as it's a completely different style to DKC.

P.S. E-Dawg, you can save Vectorman on SGC for the Gamecube but it takes up a fair amount of memory.

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29. Tony United States 25 Feb 2008, 20:28 GMT

I would take this game over Gunstar heroes. The graphics are amazing for the Sega Genesis. Its a real testament to how they pushed the software to compete with the SNES. When this game comes to the US its a must download.

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30. slangman United Kingdom 19 Mar 2008, 18:16 GMT

On youtube this looks like an awesome game i do wounder if this is worth getting though since i heard some people saying they loved this game and others saying its avergae. I am really puzzled :S

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31. illmatic United States 24 Mar 2008, 19:12 GMT

It's been almost a year since Europe got this great game. Can the US have it now too, please?

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32. MrPoo6321 United States 08 Apr 2008, 17:36 GMT

For reals! When the crap are we gonna get this game???? I've been waiting forever! It almost makes me wanna go buy an old genesis and track down the cartridge... although with my luck it will come out for the vc the following week in the states.

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33. Kevin United States 25 May 2008, 00:32 GMT

If they ever release this imagine how long it would take for us to get the sequal.

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34. mr.niceguy United States 17 Jun 2008, 04:50 GMT

One of my favorite games on the Genesis, and had I figured out there was an easy mode, I would've bought it too, instead of renting it like 3 or 4 times. Thank G-d I got the Gems Collection, I knew there would be more value to it than just Sonic CD(though, now I kind of wish I had that I hadn't passed up that Genesis Collection everyone is talkiny about). I found the game to be rather unique, at least compared to Contra(never got to play Gunstar Heroes and I'll admit I played Vectorman first), as someone mentioned, it's more like Megaman, rather than your usual run 'n' gun, only with Contra style controls(what I thought Megaman always needed).

Oh, and thanks to the video, I now have to go and play this game again, since it showed me a bunch of new things that I can do(I never knew the double jump could be used as an attack!).

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35. slangman United Kingdom 18 Jun 2008, 14:32 GMT

Never mind i bought it on Sonic Gems Collection after learning that the PAL VC version of Vectorman has slower music compared to the NTSC one. And the PAL version on the gems collection also runs at 50hz. Grrgh Sega and Nintendo need to get their act together and give us an option to play 60hz Mega Drive games on the VC.

Still its a cool game though thats worth a look.

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36. Mickeymac United States 14 Jul 2008, 01:20 GMT

G-D I loved this game as a kid! I never played many run & guns back the, but I did love platformers, and this game had both in spades! You really can't treat this game the same way you would treat a Contra game, because then you'd be missing out on half the game. This game is basically Super Turrican with an aimable gun, transformations, and a large amout of level variety, and like Super Turrican, it has a lot of secrets. Often times I'll time out just trying to search for everything, yet I still run in to new things every time I play. I think enough has been said about this, but still, I cant stress enough that this game is not Contra, it's not Gunstar Heroes. It is a Run & Gun, but that's not all it is and it shouldn't be treated as so.

Keep an open mind.

Oh, and for anyone who thinks it's too hard, there's an easy mode that brings the difficulty down to a bearable level.

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37. Kevin United States 11 Aug 2008, 16:33 GMT

Why is it taking so long to release this game? The sequel hasn't even been announced either.

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38. PuppetMasterKuruku United States 30 Aug 2008, 13:23 GMT

^ Screw it, stop waiting. I already have both on Sega Genesis Collection and Sonic Gems Collection. Why would you want to wait?

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39. Mr. Cheez United States 01 Sep 2008, 05:48 GMT

I don't care if this game ever gets released truthfully. Kevin, if you want the game so bad, just get the Sega Genesis Collection (for PSP, PS2, or Xbox) or the sonic Mega Collection Plus (for Xbox, GC, and PS2, It's an unlockable).

I never thought of this game as a run-and-gun. Rather, a platformer that you shoot in. This game might not be as expansive as Super Mario Bros. 3 in terms of secrets (and really, what is?), but there's still plenty of things to discover in the levels. Transforming into all those different forms is also fun. I appreciate the amount of variety the game has. One stage, you're shooting up enemies in a platforming stage, while in another you riding a railroad as a train form shooting down a metal monster jumping across it. One thing I really don't like about the game though, is the ever-ticking time limit, which hampers the exploration and makes it that much harder to get 100% in the level. Also, is it so hard to ask for just a few measley continues???

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40. Tony United States 08 Sep 2008, 20:23 GMT

I feel this on level if not better than Gunstar and maybe a notch below Contra. I'll give it 5 stars. I agree with the review it should be high on your virtual shopping list.

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41. Spiderkid United States 22 Sep 2008, 16:02 GMT

TheReaFONZ had it right until he said Vectorman > Gunstar.

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42. Stevii's Father Philippines 22 Sep 2008, 18:58 GMT

The theme of the humans leaving the planet and leaving WALL·E...er...I mean, Vectorman to clean up is really inspiring.. :)

43. Junichi United Kingdom 22 Sep 2008, 21:05 GMT

@Stevii's Father:

Yeah, Sega stole the idea of WALL.E for Vectorman.

I played this on Sonic Gems Collection, and I couldn't really see what the fuss is all about. Maybe if I played it more I would like it, but I couldn't get into it.

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44. pikmin95 United States 23 Sep 2008, 02:02 GMT

@Junichi
Umm, Vectorman came out before WALL.E, so Sega couldn't copy.

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45. AlexSays United States 23 Sep 2008, 03:18 GMT

Sega stole the idea of WALL.E for Vectorman.

Lol. You have no idea how incorrect that statement is. I hope you were kidding.
If anything, Pixar got the idea of Wall-E from R.O.B.

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46. BB Sting United States 23 Sep 2008, 07:25 GMT

This game was pretty awesome for it's time. Instead of being pre-rendered by sg workstations like DKC, all of the polygons and 3d effects for this game were rendered on the fly using a process called vector piece animation which made it the most sophisticated 16 bit game ever made.

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47. Mr. Cheez United States 23 Sep 2008, 16:23 GMT

@x.supermario.x and Pikmin. I think he was being sarcastic. Er, at least I hope he is. :P
Could be the other way around though.

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48. Badknux United States 24 Sep 2008, 06:41 GMT

Junichi: Yeah, Sega stole the idea of WALL.E for Vectorman

You're batting a thousand aren't you?

Anyway, I don't like Vectorman all that much. It's fun to play, I love the premise, and I love Vectorman too. But something about it rubs me the wrong way. It isn't the graphics, nor the music, but I just am not that crazy about it. I liked Vectorman 2 a little better.

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49. Cally United States 28 Sep 2008, 10:27 GMT

This game has some surprisingly solid shooting and platforming action. Since this was Sega's answer to Donkey Kong Country, the audio/visual presentation is respectable also.

However, I can't shake the "made-in-a-garage" feeling I get when playing this game. The level design is incredibly forgettable and sometimes flat-out cumbersome; some stages are repetitive, straightforward, or involve finding power-ups in some really un-fun vertical exploration (it has to do with the way items are hidden, with the camera not showing enough around a character to easily discern where you are in the area relative to other things).

I was pleasantly surprised that Vectorman turned out to be more than a technical demo. In some ways, I'd call it Mega Man's evil twin with platforming and shooting robots. 3/5

50. President_Leever Sweden 29 Sep 2008, 06:05 GMT

I'm surprised you didn't mention the extremely tight camera for the platform segments. Makes some of the jumps impossible to judge and just feels akward compared to other games in the genre (contra, mega man) where you could "see the whole playfield" so to speak..

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51. Corbie United States 27 Oct 2008, 05:15 GMT

I never played this game during the Mega Drive era, but I did pick it up recently and it's surprisingly good. Solid play control and impressive visuals make it one of the more well-rounded Mega Drive side-scrollers out there. A great addition to the Virtual Console.

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